Here’s an addendum to Tuesday’s story about Eliot Spitzer’s new book “Defending Capitalism — Case By Case,” which revisits feuds with a number of Albany players: David Grandeau, the former executive director of the state Lobbying Commission, produced our Quote of the Month when he denied ever soliciting a charitable contribution from the former governor: “He must have me confused with one of his whores — in this case an old, fat one.”

In a slightly more serious vein, Grandeau responded to Spitzer’s charge that he refused to refer a 1999 Lobbying Commission case against tobacco giant Phillip Morris and its chief Albany lobbyist to the Attorney General’s office for possible further action. In the book, Spitzer claims that Grandeau said in a conversation a decade later that he had refused to make the referral because Senate Republican Leader Joe Bruno wouldn’t have liked it.

Grandeau noted that it was the watchdog panel’s commissioners, and not the executive director, who made referrals.

In a follow-up email, Grandeau said AG Spitzer wasn’t always so eager to sniff out improper gifts doled out by powerful monied interests to elected officials:

By the way, I just remembered the Lobbying Commission (the commission not the executive director) did refer a case to Spitzer: It was the NY Yankees making an illegal gift to Bob Morgenthau when he was Manhattan DA. Spitzer refused to prosecute, and Morgenthau is now a special adviser to the Moreland Commission — at least he has experience with lobbyists and illegal gifts. Do you think the Moreland Commission might investigate Spitzer’s use of the state plane to fly to Washington, D.C. to have sex with a whore? It is a violation of the Public Officer’s Law never looked at by Albany’s ethics agencies. Seems like it is just the kind of thing Cuomo wants them to look at.

(The above paragraph has been copy-edited to correct Grandeau’s crimes against spelling and punctuation — which, by the way, are not violations of state Public Officers Law.)

The Post’s Capitol bureau reported in January 2004 — under the classic tab headline “MORGY TIX GET YANKS IN HOT SEAT” — that Morgenthau and his wife had accepted 2003 World Series tickets offered by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. The team paid a $75,000 fine for giving tickets to the DA and other officials. At the time, Morgenthau attributed his presence to his role as chair of the Police Athletic League.

In a December 2004 article in the New York Times, Spitzer compared the Phillip Morris case and the commission’s action against Morgenthau: “There is a case where you had systemic abuse,” Spitzer said of the 1999 matter. “(Grandeau) unilaterally refused to do anything and then he pulls out this silliness and says Bob Morgenthau was given a ticket to the Yankee games. He doesn’t understand anything.”

Spitzer’s new book is dedicated to Morgenthau and another former boss, federal Judge Robert W. Sweet, who Spitzer clerked for early in his career.

As to Grandeau’s second point: He’s referring to Spitzer’s infamous Feb. 13, 2008, assignation with Kristin Davis at the Mayflower Hotel in our nation’s capital.

In his defense, the then-governor was in Washington on public business: He testified the next morning before the House Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises on the crisis afflicting the bond insurance market.

While his entertainment the night before might have been a violation of the Mann Act, he seems covered on the use of state resources as required by 2007 rule-making by the Commission on Public Integrity, which replaced the Lobbying Commission after Spitzer took office.

Update: In an addendum to this addendum, Grandeau notes that the COPI rules bars use of state resources if the public purpose of the trip is a mere pretext for an inappropriate purpose. He cites the New York Times coverage of the Feb. 13 trip, an article that notes that Spitzer wasn’t originally scheduled to testify at the hearing but decided to replace his own insurance superintendent.

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